Beware the downgrading of secure electronic mail
Oliver Wiese, Joscha Lausch, Jakob Bode, Volker Röth · 2018
Researchers have investigated the usability challenges of end-to-end encryption for electronic mail while users seem to place little value into the confidentiality of their mail. On the other hand, users should see value in protection against phishing. Designing mail apps so that they help users resist phishing attacks has received less attention. A well-known and widely implemented mechanism can be brought to bear on this problem - digital signatures. We investigated contemporary mail apps and found that they make limited use of digital signatures to help users detect phishing mail. We developed and studied an opinionated user interface design that steers users towards safe behaviors when confronted with phishing mail. In our study with 18 participants we found that the control group was phishable whereas the experimental group remained safe.